A Demigod's Best Friend
by bluepianos
Summary: Whereas a normal human being's best friend is a dog, a demigod's best friend is a hellhound. Figures. The story of Mrs. O'Leary making her comeback into Percy's world. Remember. Rated for swearing!  Percy/Annabeth. Guest appearance from Libby. Enjoy!
1. Part I

**Pairing**: Percy/Annabeth  
**Category**: Percy Jackson & The Olympians  
**Rating**: PG-13 [For swearing]  
**Summary**: Whereas a normal human being's best friend is a dog, a demigod's best friend is a hellhound. Figures. The story of Mrs. O'Leary making her comeback into Percy's world. (Remember. Rated for swearing!)

**A Demigod's Best Friend**

_Part I_

"Holy _shit_!" Perseus Jackson's mouth then proceeded to release another string of crude words that would have had Annabeth on his hide for weeks. The monster, the thing, the ... mix between a cow the size of a small truck and one very angry platypus (even the Gods must have had a sense of humor for putting those two animals together) had very nearly crushed him with its powerful hooves. And it would have smashed his head in if his battle reflexes hadn't told him to dive out of the way.

Percy got to his feet only to roll to the side again as the platy-cow charged at him on its two hind feet with its head ducked down. The monster crashed into the side of the alley's building, sticking its cow-horns between the bricks. Percy took this opportunity jump onto the creature and rodeo-ride the monster on its back, not really being successful in any way.

Deciding that he was seriously late for the Orientation, he wanted to end this monster episode but before he could plunge Riptide into the platy-cow's head, the creature jerked its head upwards so roughly that Percy lost his grip on its horns. He fell backwards, the impact of his body hitting the floor forcing him to release Riptide. Percy's head turned towards Riptide, about five feet away from him.

He tried to scramble onto his feet towards his only weapon but the beast jumped onto him and trapped him under its hoofed, large and brawny (and hairy) legs. Much to Percy's dismay, the savage simply grinned sickeningly, a trail of spittle rolling down the side of his chin before splattering down a few inches away from Percy's head. He shuddered silently. The platy-cow leaned forward, opened its jaws and to Percy's surprise (and to his misfortune), the insides of the beast's mouth revealed multiple layers of dried-blood-encrusted teeth, each of them half the size of Percy's thumb. Each tooth winked brightly even though the battle was taking place in an alley where not a lot of afternoon light shone through. And Percy could see that every single little tooth was about as sharp as the deadliest knife the Butcher owned in the grocery store downtown.

Percy's heart froze in panicked disgust as he realized that the monster had begun to straddle his stomach slowly and his ADHD kicked in. He aimed a kick straight at the monster's groin but instead of the expected whimper or cry of agony, the platy-cow just bent over him a little bit more in what was just a wince of pain. The monster didn't loosen his grip at all; in fact, it seemed to tighten its grip in anger, making Percy's situation worse.

_What? What happened to his -? _The more logical side of Percy took over. This thing was not a 'he.'

_Platy-__**cow**__! Not a platy-__**bull**__... _Percy thought as he searched frantically for Riptide. To add to his situation, he couldn't find the damned weapon anywhere, not next to him, in front of him, behind him, not even as a pen in his pockets! He looked up, grimacing as he noticed his beautiful sword in the hands of this she-beast.

Percy gulped, finally deciding that any attempts to wrestle the mangy monster off him would give better results than anything else. He grabbed the platypus' neck as quickly as he could and delivered a kick onto the cow's hip, doing whatever he can just to get the wretched thing off him. He had a girlfriend, for Gods' sakes!

Within a few seconds, he found himself pinned to the floor after a rather disturbing experience with the monster that included a lot of rolling around in the alley. The platypus head opened its jaws one more time, ready to chomp off a decent sized piece of Percy jerky. Inside, the invulnerable demigod thanked the Gods for the chance that maybe this thing's teeth would just shatter against impact with his skin but the fact that it was a female monster that was practically trying to rape him _then_ eat him scared him the most. The one word that ran through his head while he tried to avoid breathing in the she-beast's revolting breath was a questioning, a very small, and a very desperate _Help_.

And suddenly, as if Iris had been reading his mind, a blur of black suddenly rammed right into the platy-cow, throwing the monster off of the demigod. Percy, who'd been keeping his eyes screwed shut, suddenly snapped them wide open in confusion. He heard a growl similar to that of a canine's and his head turned to his left, where a new struggle had begun. Actually, it wasn't much of a struggle anymore because the new character in the episode quickly took a swipe at the platy-cow's jaw, shattering it with one powerful strike. Then, seeing as the new beast didn't consider the fight over, the new fighter looked at the platy-cow's stomach before its head snapped forwards, grabbing a large mouthful of cow meat, instantly killing the she-beast. Percy watched as the platy-cow dissipated into a merciless cloud of vaporized reddish-brown dust.

In no time, he realized that maybe now he might have to fight off the new opponent. Percy cursed in his mind but let out a sigh of relief when he felt Riptide materialize in his pocket as a pen again. He got up slowly and uncapped his sword, facing what could be the death of him. Funny. He always thought Annabeth would be the death of him and here he was. Standing in an alleyway, fighting monster after monster, ignoring the fact that invulnerability would not help him as much as he wished it would this time. He would collapse, dead with fatigue, before he knew it.

In the shadows, Percy's new opponent was still facing away from him, still feasting on platypus and cow meat. It shook its head, trying to get rid of the blood that soaked its muzzle at the moment. Percy gulped as the walls of the alley were splattered with little beads of blood. Platy-cow blood. Not his.

_Gotta remember that. _He thought.

He tightened his grip on Riptide but regretted it almost instantly. Somehow, this beast was able to sense even that tiniest movement because it immediately froze, still facing towards the alley's wall, and away from Percy. Percy took a breath, readying himself for the next episode of this chapter of his life. Hopefully not the final chapter, but a rather difficult one, he was beginning to find.

In a span of two seconds, the beast suddenly turned around to face him, took one great leap and before he knew it, Percy was pinned to the floor (again), Riptide was flying through the air (again), landing five feet away from him (again) and he was being ...

... slobbered ... to death? What in Tartarus? Was this a new technique being taught in the Underworld? Pretend you're Demigod's-best-friend and later relish the taste of your owner's innards in your mouth?

Percy slapped away the gigantic tongue of this insane beast and gasped for breath, his face scrunching up at the smell of dog breath covering his body now.

Dog?

And like a good, well-mannered, well-behaved pet, Mrs. O'Leary sat up on her hind legs, panting in ecstasy with her tail whipping around dangerously, obviously smiling at Percy Jackson.

Percy stood up.

"Mrs... Mrs. O'Leary?" Mrs. O'Leary tilted her head, waiting for something smart to come out of Percy's lips.

"H-how did you get here? No, that's stupid. You're a hellhound. You guys are everywhere." Percy picked up Riptide as he ranted, replaced the cap on the weapon and put the Riptide Pen Version 2.0 in his pocket. Afterwards, he dusted himself off a little bit to look the least bit presentable, but winced inwardly when he realized he smelled like sweat, blood, dirt, alleys, his blood, dog breath and cow meat. And more blood. This situation called for a shower, but he didn't have that kind of time on his hands. He was very late.

Very late.

How in the world would he get to camp at this point? He'd need some sort of instant transportation. If only Iris was feeling merciful right now, or if Zeus ... no, anything Zeus would accommodate Percy Jackson would only result to his death, therefore ending up in a war between Percy's father and Thalia's father. That would only be messy. If only he were Harry Potter (screw the geeky glasses. He needed to get to camp _now_) he could portkey or use those skeletal horse-like thingies or another type of animal ...

Animal.

Mrs. O'Leary tilted her head to the other side, as if reading his mind. Percy narrowed his eyes and smiled.

"Say... I'm actually heading to camp right now. And I know you haven't seen Annabeth in a while..." Mrs. O'Leary righted her head so it wasn't tilted anymore. Percy chuckled.

"I know you just saved my life, girl," Percy flicked off a piece of platy-cow off of Mrs. O'Leary's ebony fur and brushed off some of the dust that was left behind, "but I need you to do me one more favor." Mrs. O'Leary whined and stepped back a few inches. He could see a disgusted wince on Mrs. O'Leary's face and could definitely tell that she wasn't fond of that idea.

"I know. I'm sorry! But it's a quick one. Just go to Camp Half Blood with me. No, _take_ me there. I don't want you to leave me behind or anything." Mrs. O'Leary whined again, lay down and rested her head on her paws, still not liking the idea so much.

"There's food..." Mrs. O'Leary lifted her head.

"And a lot of people to bother." Mrs. O'Leary stood up.

"And did I mentioned all the freefood _and_ drink that Camp Half Blood has to offer?" Mrs. O'Leary's tail suddenly came back to life and uplifted one of the boxes stacked up in the alley. Percy ducked to avoid one that charged towards his head.

"I'll take that as a 'yes,' then?" The now quite ecstatic hellhound jumped up and down on her spot in the alley, making Percy laugh. He reached up to pet what part of her head he could reach but had to tiptoe to get any sort of contact with the hellhound's fur.

"Okay, before I hop on, you kinda have to stop moving." Mrs. O'Leary continued to vibrate but held still long enough for Percy to hoist his leg onto one of Mrs. O'Leary's limbs. He slipped on a patch of blood that soaked an area of the leg Percy was climbing and before he fell onto the alley floor again, he grabbed onto a handful of Mrs. O'Leary's fur, praying to Hades (that's a first) that she wouldn't psyche out at the action.

Oh, good. She didn't freak out. She did worse.

She started running.

The wrong way.

With the wind crashing into his face, Percy could feel Mrs. O'Leary's molecules begin to take on the procedure of Shadow Traveling but he definitely didn't want to do that in the position he was currently in. He screamed for her to stop.

"Mrs. - stop!" And since Mrs. O'Leary was such a good girl, she took a stomach lurching break that launched Percy over her head and onto the floor again, thankfully it was in a playground he was thrown on, the sand softening his land a little bit. But much of the oxygen in his body was slammed out through the impact and Percy twisted to his side to catch his breath.

Mrs. O'Leary bounded happily right next to him and began licking his face as an apology. Percy could still smell the platy-cow in her breath.

"Ugh, I'm okay, girl, I'm okay. Ew..." he shuddered, gently pushing her snout away from him before getting up. Mrs. O'Leary panted, waiting for him to get back on his feet. She turned around so her side was facing him. Percy looked around, suddenly remembering that no one was supposed to know who he was. There was a little girl on the swing whose mouth dropped into an 'O' at the site of Mrs. O'Leary. Either what she was seeing through the Mist was remarkably large or she could see through the mist. Or she was a demigod and was still too small to be claimed, and could see Mrs. O'Leary. The last two options sounded particularly worse than the first. But Percy didn't have time to take this little girl to the side and start interrogating her about her parents. No. That would be creepy.

"Okay, I'm ready," Percy groaned. He put a hand on Mrs. O'Leary's fur again and just as he was starting to get back on his ride, it shot off into the distance, going the wrong way.

Again.

But this time, Percy fell flat on his face in the sand, left behind, eating Mrs. O'Leary's dust. Literally.

After getting up again and taking a glance at the little girl, Percy dusted off as much sand as he could, took a deep breath and quickly went through all of his options to get to camp.

After two seconds, he decided to get to the closest supply of water there was. He scanned the playground and quickly spotted a fountain slightly smaller than a car in the middle of the park. Knowing that time was definitely not on his side, he ran to the fountain, but before proceeding, he remembered that the little girl could still be watching him. He turned around and realized he was correct. Without moving his head, his eyes flicked to the sides to check if anyone else was watching the crazy man douse himself in pool water. No one else in the park seemed to him so he faked glancing to the side as if he saw something there. Surely, the little girl looked towards the direction that he was looking at and Percy quickly molded with the water, a trick his father taught him. If he could blend with the water, become one with it (Percy remembered laughing a little at that part. He felt very kung fu, very Dragon-Ball Z) he could get anywhere. All he needed to do was wish that he were anywhere where there was water. Right now, he tried to imagine himself as close to Camp Half Blood's beach as possible. He clearly remembered a time when he and Annabeth were lounging on a row boat in the estuary next to the camp, about a hundred meters away from the beach and imagined that he was there. In a few seconds, he could feel his body literally begin to evaporate as he became "one" with the water.

He imagined an approximation of the area where last summer, he and Annabeth spent the afternoon on that rowboat and within a few seconds, felt his body begin to take its natural form again. Opening his eyes, he could see that he was in water that was as clean as the camp could keep it. Because of how filthy and stinky he felt from the fight with the platy-cow, he allowed himself to get wet this time. Normally, Percy wouldn't use his powers to get to camp. That was usually his last resort. He would actually just take a taxi or a bus or even drive to Camp by himself but he was late. And there was one angry Annabeth waiting for him.

Oh, crap.

Annabeth was waiting for him.

* * *

Percy shook off the droplets of water clinging to his hair as if he was a dog, now hoping against hope that all the members of the female breed of the camp would just stop looking at him. No, it wasn't _entirely_ his fault that his ride completely ditched him and bounded off the wrong direction. No, it wasn't his fault that he was forced to swim to camp to get to the Open House on time. But it was most definitely his fault for taking off his shirt once he stepped onto the beach of the camp.

"Hey, Percy," the common Aphrodite girl from the common Aphrodite group mewed at him as he walked past them. He didn't even know her name, but Percy nodded to her and smiled.

"Hey." He repeated this reaction to every other female who nodded or (ugh) winked at him. Thank the gods that Clarisse was the only one who simply frowned at him but nodded nonetheless. She was being increasingly nice nowadays. Percy walked over to her to ask about Annabeth.

"Hi!" he greeted Clarisse cheerily, who responded with a full-frontal glare.

"Just because I acknowledged you, doesn't mean we're best friends now, Jackson." Percy chuckled.

"You think I don't know that, La Rue?" he challenged her playfully, earning an extra heavy glare, "I'm just looking for Annabeth. Chill out. Have you seen her?" he frowned when Clarisse suddenly laughed shortly.

"Miss Perfection? I don't think you should be anywhere _near _her right now," she smirked, turning back to what she was currently working on. There were papers spread out over the table she was sitting at. Maps and plans that looked similar to different plays on a basketball board. Percy connected the maps and plans to what could only be strategies for the next Capture The Flag match.

"Why?" Percy asked, still frowning. Clarisse stopped smirking and stared at Percy with an _Are-you-serious?_ look on her face.

"Hello? You completely bailed on her during the Open House? Which was, like, half an hour ago, so she'll probably be pretty pissed off right now." Clarisse explained. The alliteration in that sentence bounced around in Percy's head as he tried to comprehend the simple meaning of that sentence. The knowing tone of her voice was irritating but Percy shook it off.

"Never mind that. There's a pretty damn good reason I'm late, so just tell me where she is. I'll talk to her." Percy summoned himself to dry and after his jeans had completely dried off, he slipped his t-shirt back on. Clarisse rolled her eyes.

"She's at Thalia's tree with Libby."

"Libby? What's she doing here? Isn't she, like, taking up a weird mother-daughter-training-session thing with her mom up on Olympus?"

"Don't ask me! Iris was busy, but she loves Annabeth so she asked her to babysit Libby again. Just," Clarisse sighed, already tired from talking to Percy for so long, "'git, man, I'm working." Percy sniffed and harrumphed playfully just to get on Clarisse's nerves a little more, but smiled and shook his head when she sneered at him, and turned around to walk to Thalia's tree.

He finally climbed up the hill after nervously avoiding all the drool-infested young female campers who purposely placed themselves in the perfect positions just to watch him walk.

He found Annabeth and Libby exactly where he thought they'd be … or at least, where Clarisse said they'd be. Annabeth sat behind Libby at the lowest branch of Thalia's tree while Libby sat in front of her, between Annabeth's legs that formed a thin 'V'. Percy licked his lips and swallowed with some difficulty. An angry Annabeth was never a kind Annabeth. He walked up to the tree, noting that Annabeth refused to turn his way even if Libby was reaching for the branches, twisting her body in all sorts of ways that forced Annabeth to look at multiple directions.

"Hi," Percy said hesitantly. Libby immediately turned to look at him and give him a bright, toothy smile, but Annabeth executed the perfect face of a stranger who just met a stranger.

"I'm sorry, do we know you?" she asked innocently. Percy stopped in his tracks, standing right in front of the lowest branch that the two girls were perched on.

"Um... I'm your boyfriend? Percy?" Percy answered hesitantly, completely forgetting that Clarisse had told him that Annabeth would be pissed. Libby giggled from next to Annabeth while the nineteen-year-old frowned in faux confusion.

"_My_ boyfriend, you say?" she asked, holding onto Libby's shoulders. Libby stopped moving so much but continued to giggle from between Annabeth's legs.

"Um... yeah. _Your_ boyfriend. Percy... Jackson?" Percy continued to pry for some kind of remembrance through Annabeth. Annabeth, in turn, gave up the act just a little bit.

"You hear that, Libby? This man says he's my boyfriend. What do you think?" she asked the little girl. Libby grinned and shook her head, signaling, 'No, that's definitely not your boyfriend.'

"Sir, if I may, I'd think my boyfriend would be much more well-mannered than you, no offense." Percy blinked in offense. Annabeth didn't appear to notice and kept talking.

"And I'm almost positive he wouldn't be one to obviously flaunt his physical appearances after oh, so subtly entering the camp in a meek and humble fashion." Percy blinked, this time in confusion.

_Is she mocking me?_ he thought.

"I-" Percy started to protest but Annabeth kept right on ranting.

"And he absolutely, most definitely, _would not be late_ for the First Year Open House that he _promised _me he would come early to."

_She's definitely mocking me._ Percy thought as he winced.

"Yeah... about that..." he mumbled, kicking away a suddenly very interesting stone next to his feet.

"What about it, Percy?" Annabeth neglected to act like she had no idea who this handsome stranger was.

"Did you really have to go and humiliate me in front of the entire group of first years plus all the counselors _and_ Chiron?"

"Look, they won't even put this on your record or something-"

"Oh, what makes you say that?"

"Because you don't even _have_ a record!" Percy threw his hands up in the air, neither one of the 19-year-olds noticing that Libby was having a silent giggling fit.

"You've graduated Camp, Annabeth!"

"Percy, it's not that! Chiron, my mom, everyone here, whoever they are, even Clarisse, for gods' sakes! Everyone expects me to be 'The Role Model'." Annabeth animatedly used her fingers to make quotation marks in the air. Percy rolled his eyes.

"You're a daughter of Athena. Athena's favorite daughter, if I might add. Everyone in the world, including you, knows that you're the smartest demigod of the generation, of the century even-"

"Oh, don't give me all that bull." Annabeth snapped, lifting Libby onto her lap quickly and turning her body to let her feet hang off the side of the branch, threatening silently to kick Percy in the stomach, swinging them slightly towards Percy's middle area close enough for him to notice, but not enough for him to react. He didn't step back, however, used to her threats, and simply glanced down to her feet. With his head still down, he looked up at her through his bangs and smirked.

"What was that?" he asked, an amused tone taking over his voice. Annabeth felt a blush begin to creep up her neck and heat up her cheeks at the vision of such a dorky Percy behind those bangs she wanted oh, so, badly to brush off. She ignored him, (with difficulty) took a deep breath (with some difficulty) and gulped down a mouthful of air (with more difficulty). Annabeth opened her mouth to release a string of curses at her boyfriend before hearing a small cough next to her. Forgetting that Libby had been sitting on the tree next to her the entire time, Annabeth blinked in surprise before sighing at the little girl who smiled helplessly at her. Annabeth rolled her eyes at Percy and said, "C'mon Libby, let's leave this ..." she hesitated, "_abomination_ here, before your mom comes to pick you up." She prepared to dismount before Libby pulled a puppy face.

"Oh, but Beth, she won't be coming to pick me up for another few hours! And the work is so hard up there! I have to be her apprentice-thingy that everyone keeps talking about and I don't even know what that word means! And Butch is busy with the horses! Can't we stay for just a little while?" She pulled a little pout that only little girls could pull off.

"But Libby, neither of us have eaten yet and lunch will be gone, soon. Is it alright if we eat first? We'll go to the beach afterwards, okay? And you can show me what Mommy's taught you so far," Annabeth compromised. From the corner of her eye, she could see Percy tilt his head, anticipating the reaction of the little girl. Annabeth couldn't help but feeling her heart reach out for Libby as well. She knew. Oh, hell. She knew what it was like to be pushed but to want the acceptance of her own mother. And she knew the stress that could come with working so hard to reach that acceptance.

Libby's pout lightened at the mention of the beach and she bravely put a crooked smile, "Okay." Annabeth smiled lightly at the girl. Percy's eyes softened at the look on Annabeth's face. Ten years from now, he wanted to see that same look when she would have to prod their little boy to eat dinner with them before playing with those building blocks she'd bought for him and -

- and what the hell? _Their_ _little_ _boy_? Percy blinked and shook his head a little in surprise.

"Okay, let's go." Annabeth continued her dismount but before she could push off, Libby cried, "Wait, wait, Beth. I wanna show you this little trick mommy taught me first!" And Annabeth, being a sucker for little girls (Libby, in particular), stayed on the branch. Libby, in turn, bit her bottom lip and closed her eyes. She rubbed her hands together, producing friction, before raising them both to the sky. With her right hand, she made an arc in the sky. Her hand, unlike any normal six-year-old's, trailed behind a glittering miniature rainbow that hung in the sky. Both Percy's and Annabeth's eyes rose up and Annabeth's mouth dropped open.

Percy was the first to compliment her after a few seconds of silence, "Libby, that's awesome!" Percy cracked a grin at the little girl, who blushed in return. Libby turned to Annabeth, who was still gazing at the wondrous creation.

"What do you think, Annabeth?" she asked shyly. Annabeth turned to the younger blonde.

"I think it's gorgeous, honey." Libby finally cracked her own wide smile at Annabeth and looked up at the two older kids with a suddenly determined expression plastered on her face.

"Then will you guys kiss and make up now that something glittery and pretty brought you back together? You both agree that it's pretty, right?" Libby said, with an adorable serious look on her face, a serious look that Percy just couldn't take seriously. He laughed shortly while Annabeth's smile froze and she blinked.

"I don't think that'd be a good idea, Libby... She might bite me." Percy joked quietly. Libby's gaze snapped to Annabeth, whose eyes narrowed at Percy challengingly.

"Try me," Annabeth snapped.

"Libby, would you close your eyes, sweetie?" Libby giggled and shut her eyes, covering them with her hands, while Percy stepped forward to reach for Annabeth's waist. Annabeth pushed off from the branch finally but landed in Percy's arms, immediately wrapping her legs around his waist. Good thing he was dry now. Almost as soon as the two encountered skin-on-skin impact, their lips were drawn together under the span of a millisecond. Annabeth couldn't resist the silent moan that her lips released and felt Percy grin against her lips. None of the two noticed Libby widening two of her fingers to peek out between them and none of the two noticed Libby lowering her hands before creating a bigger, brighter and somehow more sparkly rainbow above the two.

When after a few minutes, the two hadn't stopped yet, and the rainbow had already faded into the sunlight, Libby cleared her throat, blushing. She was only six! And they can't have forgotten about her already! When they still didn't stop, Libby gaped at them before looking around, seeing if anyone else noticed how they still hadn't taken a breath of air yet.

Libby rolled her eyes adorably and instead of waiting for hours just for the two to stop, cried out something horrible to catch Annabeth and Percy's attention.

"Hi Chiron! We'll be right there!" she cried out in a random direction. This pulled Percy away from Annabeth and completely put him on guard. After an ... unpleasant encounter with Chiron that included blankets, too much noise and Annabeth in his cabin past curfew, the two were very careful not to even stand next to each other when the centaur was around. After Percy and Annabeth noticed that there was no centaur in the vicinity, they both glared at Libby playfully.

"That's not very nice, Libby," Percy teased. Libby stuck her tongue out at him, "I'm only six. And you guys needed air." Annabeth laughed. She looked at Percy and nodded her head at Libby. Percy rolled his eyes.

"I'm gonna get you for this later, Libby. You almost gave me a heart attack." But nonetheless, Percy turned around so that Libby could climb aboard his back and the three could walk down Half-Blood Hill for some lunch, with Percy telling the story of the platy-cow he'd encountered.

* * *

"And of course if ever any of you need help or if you have a question, come to anyone. Camp Half Blood is a place for all demigods to feel safe, loved, and at home. Everyone here is a part of your family." Annabeth smirked at the audience for a while in the coliseum.

"That's not true, Chiron paid her to say that." Percy piped up. Everyone laughed as he continued, waving at Chiron behind everyone.

"What Annabeth _meant_ to say is that, okay, yes, we know. Life starts to suck a little bit more when you realize what it's like to be a demigod. It _will_ get harder." Percy looked at the faces of such innocence, such youth, and continued, "You _will_ have to be on your guard for, basically, 80% of the rest of your life." The coliseum became silent as Annabeth and Percy could see every single on of the first years starting to ponder this reality.

"But that's where Camp Half Blood comes in. We, the counselors and every other demigod who's been to camp for at least one year understand what it feels like to be trapped under the pressure of being a demigod. So we are here to train you and get you ready for the rest of your life," Annabeth continued.

"Because it'll sure as Tartarus be worse than Hades himself." Percy said determinedly. Chiron cleared his throat from behind the audience. Annabeth shot Percy a look. _Do not say that about the god who can kill us in the blink of an eye_, her eyes said. Percy flinched in understanding.

"Anyway, you're all definitely going to have a lot of fun here, we're all very excited to see what a new generation of demigods can do to keep this world safe. Camp Half Blood is a home, it is now your new haven, and we know you're bound to love it within a week or less," Annabeth said invitingly.

"Let's get the tour started. First off. The mess hall!" Percy raised a finger in the air energetically and the majority of the audience laughed and whooped along with him. They seemed to like that idea.

Within a few minutes of Percy's sarcastic and humorous commentary about "what you see to the right" and "over here at your left," the group of about forty new demigods and a few of the counselors plus Chiron finally arrived at the mess hall.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Percy narrated in a voice that sounded strangely similar to the preview guy's voice, "the mess hall." He removed the wall of water that purposely blurred the audience's view, sending everything back to the estuary. Percy didn't really expect anyone to gasp or gaze at the scene in awe, because it obviously wasn't much. There were the tables there, a few benches here, some patio furniture a few graduated Hephaestus and Demeter cabin members donated recently, and a few camp members scattered around the place. Of course, the bonfire used to thank the gods for the food wasn't lit at the moment and the scene that Percy so dramatically revealed really wasn't all that spectacular. He grinned anyway.

"Um... okay?" A kid who looked like he belonged in Hermes' cabin spoke up. Annabeth sighed dramatically, purposely adding to Percy's show.

"Moving on. Here is where we'll all have breakfast, lunch and dinner. That is why it is called a mess hall. Even though it's more of a picnic area. That is what mess halls are for," Annabeth narrated sarcastically. Various intelligent and quiet looking first years smiled and some had the heart to laugh out loud.

Annabeth proceeded to step in front of Percy and dictate the different times that meals were served on certain days. Just as she was explaining the process of thanking the Gods for their food, everyone felt the earth rumble. Really rumble. The kind of rumble you only hear in the Jurassic Park movie series. Annabeth turned sharply at Percy, who occasionally caused a small earthquake due to the powers he inherited from his father. He caught her look and threw his hands up, proving his innocence. And honestly, Annabeth didn't really know why she even tried to believe that Percy would cause this. He was more of a joker now, but he wasn't a show-off. And the rumbling wasn't much of an earthquake; it wasn't constant. It was more like the gigantic Tyrannosaurus Rex from one of the Jurassic Park movies had come back to life and had passed the camp's borders.

With a flash of black fur, though, not green scales, numerous wooden tables that lay around the mess hall were suddenly destroyed, splinters flew in the air and the first years freaked out completely, running to and fro, screaming at the top of their lungs. Percy had to push an oblivious brunette out of the way and dive to the floor with her to make sure she wouldn't get impaled by a large piece of wood that flew towards her neck. Annabeth grabbed Libby, who'd been following her the entire time, dodged the debris of the sudden attack, and got her safely to the closest cabin. A few of the other counselors followed suit to Annabeth and Percy, ushering the brand new demigods towards the cabins or at least away from the big, black, furry ... dog.

"Mrs. O'Leary, you better stop this instant or I will tell Nico to get Daedalus' spirit out here!" Percy screamed at the dog, who was doing nothing but rampaging the entire mess hall. But after hearing her previous master's name come out of Percy's furious lips - a master she missed and loved so much, and a master she could now only visit every so often on the weekends - she stopped moving entirely. Percy froze as well, not really expecting her to obey so calmly. But there she sat, very still, her head was tilted sweetly again in that curious way that only she could pull off.

"Um... good girl." Percy stepped up hesitantly, worried that she might start bounding around again. From the corner of his eyes, he could see that there was no one else left in the vicinity except him and Mrs. O'Leary. He walked up to her and began to calm her down, patting the hellhound down. Although Percy could practically feel the rapid speed of her breathing, he also noticed that it was slowing down at the same time.

"You know what, you've caused a lotta trouble for me today," Mrs. O'Leary sniffed, insulted, "but!" Percy continued, "You did kinda save my life back in the alleyway from that ... platy-cow thing..." Mrs. O'Leary barked, glad that she proved useful today in her new master's agenda.

"So I'm not gonna go as hard on you as Annabeth will." And as if on cue, Annabeth marched into the mess hall (what was left of it, really) and stared at the big, black dog helplessly.

"What am I going to do with you, girl?" She sighed exasperatedly but walked up slowly and came round to Percy's side of the dog. She raised an eyebrow at the large canine but proceeded to rub her down to calm her, too. Percy stood back, a little baffled that these two were more than acquainted.

"So ... you guys are good friends, too?"

"Just a little. She comes to camp every so often and strangely enough, I'm always around when she visits. It's like she knows my monthly itinerary." Percy opened his mouth to comment on that when a large shadow covered the two.

"Annabeth. Percy."

* * *

Damn, I just scrolled through the whole thing. I didn't realize how long it is for one chapter. Just a heads up, this story'll be a two-shot. I don't have the confidence and power to drag on for an epic or a multiple chaptered story. (By multiple, I mean around 10 or 20. No. That's not me.)

But there you have it! Yup, yup, yups. Part I is up and at 'em! I told y'all I had something ready. I'm already editing Part II, and I didn't realize what a pain editing was! But it's all good because I never realized how exciting it was at the same time. =)

**Little things:**

- I told you it was rated for swearing. I practically started the story with a vulgarity. ^^ But that's just me.  
- Since this is my first **big** story, I'd love it if people will point out the little grammar mistakes or spelling mistakes and I'll check to see if they really count or matter. Then of course, I'll change them. I've gone over this a couple of times already, but I'd appreciate any heads up. So, please, feel free to comment on grammar. It helps!  
- Yes, there is a large part that is actually an edited version of my already-published-story Libby. Go check that out. Find the differences, y'know like that game? ^^  
- Fourthly, sorry if Percy's a little OOC. I just figured, oh, since he got invulnerable, maybe he'll get just a tad cocky and funny, too. Which'll make him the _annoying_ guy we all love. ^^ He seems to be _that_ kind of guy. To me. Maybe not to you. But that doesn't matter. =) No, I'm kidding, it does. ^^  
- Part II will be coming up this week. Now, _that's_ a real promise.  
- If you want to keep updated with how the story's going, follow me on Twitter, the link is on my profile.

And of course, review, I really appreciate hearing from readers from all over the world, you all have such interesting comments! And if you'd like a reply, review with your account, because I always, always reply to reviews. (Unless of course, I don't see your review.)

Hopefully you guys liked this. It's been bouncing around in my brain for quite some time now and my muse actually cooperated with me to get it working.

Muse: Damn right, I did.

Zoinks! This note's long. I should end it now, right? ^^ But there you have it! Part I of A Demigod's Best Friend. Stay tuned for Part II, folks. ^^

~Blue


	2. Part II

**Pairing**: Percy/Annabeth  
**Category**: Percy Jackson & The Olympians  
**Rating**: PG-13 [For swearing]  
**Summary**: Whereas a normal human being's best friend is a dog, a demigod's best friend is a hellhound. Figures. The story of Mrs. O'Leary making her comeback into Percy's world.

**A Demigod's Best Friend**

_Part II_

If there was one thing that both Annabeth and Percy would agree on with no hesitation, no argument, just agree on immediately, it was that they were both freakishly scared of an angry Chiron. Oh, yes, there were many versions of the lovely centaur, a fine soul he had, but the angry version, those two could not handle. The angry version of Chiron did not pop out a lot and the mentor always tended to stay calm, wise and humble, that which he was known for. But, of course, anybody in his right mind would be just a little bit more than irritated when an Open House is interrupted _twice_ under two hours, by the same nineteen-year-old son of Poseidon and the second time, a largely important portion of the camp is in ruins. He had immediately bombarded both counselors with the duties of cleaning up after the mess that "their dog" left behind and to clean the damned hellhound, since Mrs. O'Leary was covered in mud, leaves, food and all sorts of trash. The sight wasn't good for Camp Half Blood's reputation. What was left of it.

"You just _had_ to go and show off how bad-ass you are, didn't you?" Percy ranted to Mrs. O'Leary as he, Annabeth, and Libby scrubbed the dog's fur. Chiron demanded that the two counselors who were in charge of the Open House clean up all the debris and file the purchases for new benches and furniture to replace those that Mrs. O'Leary ruined. It was nearing 5:30 now and the sun was beginning to set. Thankfully, being summer, the sky showed no sign of Apollo closing off the sun anytime soon.

"Hey. Six-year-old, right here?" Libby said to Percy, appalled that he would even risk swearing in the presence of such a young child. Annabeth looked disapprovingly at Percy, indicating that Libby made an excellent point, but didn't say anything. She hadn't said a word to him since they both began cleaning up the debris from the mess hall, which was about, oh, say, three hours ago! One thing Percy learned after dating Annabeth for nearly four years was that when she held a grudge, she would not let go. And okay, that didn't piss him off every once in a while, that pissed him off all the time. But he wouldn't lash out at her; even Percy was smarter than that.

"You're still not talking to me?" he asked her in a tired voice. He could feel the effects of his invulnerability start to take its toll. His energy was waning off little by little but he continued to clean Mrs. O'Leary. Percy had forgotten how comforting it was to have a pet. He had a little beagle once but after he and his mom began moving from school to school, they had to give it away. But even after all these years, there was still something soothing about cleaning a dog and taking care of one.

Annabeth didn't reply to him or even look at him. Mrs. O'Leary turned to Annabeth, who was scrubbing her right side, while Percy brushed away on her left. Even Libby glanced at her warily, her nerves pricking at the lack of communication between her two favorite people. The three demigods and the hellhound were currently in the coliseum because it was the only place big enough to handle a hellhound and buckets of fresh water and soap water that were more the size of huge buckets of gun powder you'd see in movies like _Pirates of the Caribbean_. Because the floor of the coliseum had lost most of its sand over Camp Half Blood's past years, and was now more of a yellow and stony surface, Mrs. O'Leary could lie down for the scrubbing and soaping part of her bath. Libby, who had quickly warmed up to Mrs. O'Leary after communicating with the dog telepathically, sat next to her snout and washed up the insides of her ears, always adding a scratch or two every now and then. Like a very well trained dog, Mrs. O'Leary took a liking to her immediately. Now, they both glanced at each other and back at the two older demigods worriedly. Libby smiled inwardly at the level of communication that she and the hellhound already possessed.

"Guys?" Both college students looked at Libby. She sent a frown towards each of them, "Mom hasn't even gotten here yet and you've gotten into two fights already. It's not Percy's fault, Annabeth, he was just trying to get here until a monster got in his way," Libby was talking directly to Annabeth now. Annabeth turned away from the daughter of Iris and put down the sponge. Percy couldn't really see anything behind Mrs. O'Leary but for the both of them, it was kind of weird to be scolded by a six year old.

Libby sighed in frustration, knowing fully well that they weren't listening as well as she wanted them to. "This is stupid." Libby cringed silently, never one to use harsh words.

"Do I have to force you guys to kiss and make up again?" Annabeth looked up. She cracked a small smile and Libby and walked over to the front of Mrs. O'Leary's snout.

Annabeth sighed. "Gods, you have a way with words, Libby," Annabeth picked her up and carried her over to the bench Percy was sitting on. She sat Libby down on her lap and held her there for a while.

"Okay, Percy," Annabeth started, "I'm sorry. I'm not going to ignore you anymore. And I know it wasn't your fault that you were late, I was just mad because you forced me to embarrass myself a little bit in front of everyone," Annabeth muttered the last bit out quietly. Percy smiled warmly.

"And I'm sorry about that, by the way. I'll try not to run into anymore freaky mutant monsters in the future." Percy winced at the memory of the cow. He shuddered inwardly.

"Nah, that's not possible. I don't think the Underworld's gonna just stop letting you be a Seaweed Brain slash hero," Annabeth teased, looking straight into Percy's eyes. Percy smiled at the nicknames and Greek references and nudged his shoulder at her in playful annoyance. She smiled back before looking at Libby in front of her.

"How's that for an apology? Hm? 'Little Miss Communication.'" Annabeth made a face at Libby who couldn't stop smiling. She hugged Annabeth tightly before giving Percy a hug, too. Her mom should be proud that she had gotten the most stubborn daughter of Athena (Athena!) to actually apologize to her boyfriend, the most troublesome son of Poseidon (Poseidon!). She couldn't wait to hear the approval and pride in her mother's voice.

"Actually, it really isn't Percy's fault that the camp is in such a mess now, _is_ it, Mrs. O'Leary?" Annabeth mock blamed the poor hellhound who now whimpered, surprised that someone actually remembered her current existence in the coliseum.

"Aw, c'mon. Cut her some slack. She has to live in the Underworld. How pathetic is that?" Percy reasoned for his favorite dog.

"Live in the Underworld?" Annabeth repeated incredulously, "She practically lives in the luxury of camp now, don't you?" Annabeth went back to glaring plastic daggers at the hellhound. Oh, she didn't mean to be unkind to the dog, she just wanted to play with her for a while.

"You do?" Percy asked the dog. Mrs. O'Leary cutely placed her paws over her eyes, obviously trying to block out the two demigods.

"Then we're definitely telling Nico to put security guards on you." Percy joked. Mrs. O'Leary barked in protest.

"We're kidding! Relax! Camp Half Blood's your home too, y'know?" Mrs. O'Leary's mouth curved into what could only be a smile and she licked Percy, which resulted in her very large tongue covering Percy's entire body in an overload of saliva. Again. Annabeth and Libby grimaced and Annabeth smiled apologetically at Percy before moving back to her side of the dog with Libby, neither girl wanting to be drowned in dog slobber.

"Thanks," Percy said sarcastically before grabbing a large bucket of clean water and dumping it over his head.

"Much better," he muttered.

"Hey Jackson!" Someone with a rough and scratchy voice called out from the entrance of the coliseum, which was about fifty feet away. The group looked up and saw Alonso Reyes, a Californian son of Ares, the other counselor besides Clarisse. He was known by all of the members of the camp as Al, one of the 'friendliest' Ares members. Please. Back when Percy hadn't graduated from Camp yet, he knew what a bastard Al could be. To him, Alonso Reyes would never be 'Al', but only 'Reyes' and even if they were the last two people on Earth, never, ever, ever would they be mere acquaintances.

Percy stood up. "What do you want, Reyes?" he shouted over to the Ares counselor.

"Nice going, my 'friend.' It's not every day a counselor gets to ruin a huge part of the Camp," he taunted Percy from the long distance, which, to Annabeth, only proved what a coward he really was. No wonder Ares himself never praised him as much as he did Clarisse. To Annabeth, he would always be just 'Al' or _The Other Ares Counselor_. She'd grown a little bit of a liking to Clarisse, who had become something of a friend after the Battle of New York. A rough friend, but a friend nonetheless. Suddenly, from her side of the hellhound, she could hear Mrs. O'Leary begin to growl under her breath at the sight of the Other Ares Counselor.

"Shut up, Al. We're kinda busy. Can't we beat you up later?" Annabeth shouted back at him. Al's face turned towards Annabeth and he smirked.

"Sure thing, sweet cheeks. But only if you turn up without Water Boy. Then you can beat me up however you want to," Al grinned sickeningly and Annabeth scoffed as her jaw dropped, disgusted. After Al had spoken though, Mrs. O'Leary had immediately jumped to her master and mistress' defense, barking loudly at the counselor, who stepped back a little. Percy didn't hesitate to claw back either.

"You stay away from Annabeth, Reyes, or I swear, I will make sure your father isn't the only thing you're afraid of." Even from the distance of the coliseum's diameter, he could tell that Al flinched at that comment and Percy smiled to himself. Ten points to Percy.

"Whatever, Jackson. You just make sure you get both of your bitches under control." Libby's mouth dropped at the crudity of Al's language. Annabeth's eyes narrowed and Percy fumed. Annabeth held his arm back to keep him from attacking a fellow counselor (who didn't deserve the position, in her personal opinion), but there was nothing she could do when Mrs. O'Leary jumped to her feet, barking ten times louder and charging at Alonso Reyes, who turned back just in time to see the hell hound fifteen feet from him. He yelped pathetically and was lucky enough to get a head start on running away from Mrs. O'Leary. The trio inside the coliseum could hear immediate screams from the other campers, the sounds of glass breaking and other destructive noises. Percy, Annabeth and Libby ran as fast as they can to the entrance of the coliseum and watched for a while as the large hellhound zoomed after Al. The size comparison would have been comical or even hilarious but at a time like this, all Annabeth and Percy could think of was the amount of damage that Mrs. O'Leary could cause and the cost of the repairs that they'd have to make.

Percy muttered his own vulgarities quietly to himself before putting a hand to Annabeth's shoulder, telling her what he needed to do with his eyes. Annabeth rolled her eyes. This was just so convenient for the both of them. Percy shrugged and quickly darted towards the direction where the chase was currently taking place. When he realized that Reyes was running towards the beach like an idiot (he couldn't so much as _swim_ away from the hellhound now, could he?) with Mrs. O'Leary literally only a few feet away, (Percy had to admire Reyes' speed), he stopped and did the only thing he could think of.

He sent a massive wall of water down on Mrs. O'Leary's head.

"Well, how is that effective?" Annabeth commented sarcastically from her spot next to the coliseum's entrance. It turned out, though, that it was very effective. Mrs. O'Leary was forced onto her stomach as the water crashed onto her body. After all the water had drained into the ground, the hellhound's mouth or soaked into her fur, she stood up, shook most of it away, but continued to slowly pursue Al, who had also been impacted slightly by Percy's spontaneous wall of water and was now splayed out on the beach. The Ares camper didn't move and Percy guessed that he was out cold for a while. Ah, well. He'd be fine. Mrs. O'Leary walked up to Al, sniffed him a little bit for a few seconds before snorting, as if she had inhaled something repulsive. The hellhound turned so that her bottom faced Al and started kicking dirt onto the unconscious body. Percy stumbled forward, surprised for a moment, wondering if she was actually willing to take the life of the idiotic camper and if she was going to bury him alive. But after a few kicks, Mrs. O'Leary stopped, rotated her body again, but this time so that her side was facing the Other Ares Counselor. Before anyone could react, Mrs. O'Leary lubricated Al's unknowing body with her urine before skipping off towards Percy, who had slumped to the ground on his bottom, laughing like a maniac.

Mrs. O'Leary leaned down so that Percy could reach up to pat her snout proudly.

"Ahh, who's a good bitch? Who's a good bitch? Oh! You're my good bitch! Yes, you are!" Percy cooed at Mrs. O'Leary and this time, she knew that he used the name as a term of endearment. Right now, she was The Dog. She was _The_ Dog. _The_ Dawg. Whatever "dog" it was, she was it.

Mrs. O'Leary waited until Percy calmed down and had stood up, and they both walked back into the coliseum, not bothering to turn around after hearing some campers (probably the Ares campers) run around frantically for buckets of water to clean up their heroic counselor and others running away as far as they could from the dude who smelled like pee (probably the rest of Camp Half Blood). Mrs. O'Leary confidently sauntered a slow and languid strut and when she and Percy were within hearing distance of Annabeth and Libby, she turned around and gave Al (who had woken up after someone doused him with a fresh bucket of water) one sharp bark. Libby's head jerked back an inch in slight alarm. Annabeth turned to her.

"What's up?" she asked the six-year-old.

"Mrs. O'Leary's a potty mouth, too," Libby mumbled. Annabeth snorted.

"Why?" she asked slowly.

"She just said to Al, 'you're _my_ b-i-t-c-h, now, buddy!'" Libby blinked and looked up at her favorite babysitter, "What does that word even mean?" Annabeth blinked, "I'm sure, Libby, that when the time comes, someone will tell you."

"Should I ask my mom?" she asked curiously, wondering whatever this word could mean.

"Oh! No! No," Annabeth paused, wide-eyed, "don't ask your mom. Maybe when you're older, she or I will tell you." Libby nodded.

"Okay," she said and didn't speak a word of the subject afterwards. Annabeth smiled at the little girl and looked up as Percy walked in front of her.

"That. Was the _coolest_ thing I have ever seen. Did anyone film that? That was definitely a YouTube moment," Percy exclaimed excitedly, his arms flailing in the air, his voice an octave higher and rustier, his eyes wide open with the type of delight that Annabeth usually saw only in a little boy's eyes after seeing something incredibly awesome. Then again, what Mrs. O'Leary just did _was_ pretty awesome. And c'mon, the idiot deserved it.

"No, Percy, no one filmed it. But I agree, that was pretty awesome," Annabeth answered.

"You think! I love you, Mrs. O'Leary, yes, I do! Oh, yes, I do!" Percy went back to rubbing and petting and praising the hellhound while Annabeth smiled and shook her head at Percy's antics. She knew he was definitely not doing this on purpose but he couldn't help it when his ADHD got the better of him. He'd get back to being exhausted in a few minutes, after his adrenaline high stopped powering his invincibility.

"By the way," Annabeth started, suddenly remembering something, "why couldn't you have done that big wall of water thing earlier? It would have saved us so much time."

"Well, I did it now, so I guess she's clean. We have been scrubbing away with soap and stuff for a couple of hours, haven't we?" Annabeth thought about letting Mrs. O'Leary get back into the Underworld, where it was slimy and dirty with Gods know what. As soon as she'd step into the damp earth, she was bound to be swarmed by the dirty, un-showered spirits that lived in the Underworld. Annabeth shivered at the thought of letting a clean!Mrs. O'Leary become a dirty!Mrs. O'Leary in a matter of seconds. She decided to ignore the feeling, though.

"Yeah. You're right." Annabeth reached up to pat the wet dog, "You can go whenever you feel like it, girl," she said to the hellhound.

Mrs. O'Leary whimpered and plopped down in front of the coliseum, but it looked uncomfortably cramped for the dog. It probably was, because she stood up again and walked happily down to the spot in the coliseum where the trio was washing her earlier before settling down on to the ground, worn out.

"Look, Mrs. O'Leary, you really have to go or Chiron'll seriously kill us this time," Percy called out to the dog. He stepped towards her but froze when she barked sharply.

"She says, 'Bite me,'" Libby translated. Annabeth rolled her eyes but smiled slightly.

"Let's just leave her. Chiron doesn't really mind that she stays. She actually provides a very good source of Stamina Training and Survival-of-the-Fittest Practice for the campers," Annabeth added, siding with Mrs. O'Leary for this dilemma.

"Guys!" A rough voice called out to the trio and they all turned around to face the voice. Libby's older brother, Butch, was walking up to Annabeth and Percy. Libby's face immediately broke out into a wide smile and she ran to Butch, springing up with a jump and landing in his arms perfectly. Annabeth had to smile. The couple walked towards Butch slowly as he carried his little sister over to them.

"I'm gonna take her home now," Butch informed them in his baritone voice. Annabeth nodded.

"Just tell your mom that there is absolutely no need to pay me _ever_ again," she raised her hands to prove that she was being truthful. "She is, by far, the nicest goddess there ever was." Butch opened his mouth to try and cut in but Annabeth kept going, "It's hard to believe she ever did such a horrible thing to Heracles in Euripides' play of her back in -"

"Annabeth, we don't care," Percy said quickly because really, they didn't care. He loved her for being such a genius but sometimes her factual outbursts erupted at the most inappropriate and random times. Percy found that telling her frankly to just "Shush!" did the trick quickly and that she was beginning to learn to keep the facts to herself unless asked. Another reason why Percy loved her so much. If it was for her own good and for everyone else's benefit, she would work hard to change and change she will.

"Well, jeez, sorry," she muttered. She didn't really look sorry but the two guys let it pass.

"So. Was she good today?" Butch asked, his eyes darting to the little girl who was clutching to his neck.

"Of course I was good," Libby cried with indignation, releasing her grasp and looking pointedly at her older brother, "When am I not good?" Butch smirked a little, a teasing twinkle in his eyes indicating that his banters with his little sister were not abnormal and were definitely in their regular schedule.

"Whatever, Libs. Thanks again, Annabeth. Percy. Tomorrow. Basketball." He nodded his head towards Percy, who repeated the action.

"Definitely." They didn't really talk, those two. And when they did, their conversations were composed of one, two, three, _maybe _four words (if they were feeling especially bored) and were only about basketball or camp. They didn't know much about each other. Why, Percy didn't know. That was just how they both rolled. But Percy liked Butch and he only hoped that the Butch, in turn, thought the same of him.

Butch walked away with Libby chatting lividly in his arms. With a splash of the colors of the rainbow, the two had disappeared, to only Iris knows where.

"So. Before we start all those meaningless files... Half Blood Hill?" Percy turned to Annabeth with a tired smile plastered on his face. Annabeth tilted her head, thinking about how her invulnerable boyfriend could possibly still be standing up after all the action and movement he'd had to go through today.

"What if you just follow me to the beach and see what happens from there?" Annabeth teased him, the corner of her mouth sliding up just a little.

"What say you, Perseus Jackson? Are you willing to take this challenge?" Annabeth adapted a very off-key, off-tone and very non-Annabeth Jack Sparrow accent to add to the mood, making Percy laugh.

"I'll go with you, if you promise to never, _ever_ do that accent again," he said playfully. Annabeth scoffed, "Well, then maybe I _won't_ go to the beach with you right now." Percy rolled his eyes, smiling outside and laughing inside, "C'mon, Beth. I'm just kidding. Besides. Where else are you gonna go?" Annabeth narrowed her eyes.

"My cabin," she muttered pathetically. Percy laughed out loud for real now and gazed at her with a loving expression in his eyes. He walked around to her back and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"_Please_ accompany me to the beach?" Percy murmured into her neck softly, adding the magic word.

_And the magic touch_, Annabeth thought, shivering.

"Okay, okay, I will! Just don't do that here. There are people!" she whispered hurriedly, rushing out of Percy's arms and twirling to face him, her face a red blotched mess. Percy grinned like a Seaweed Brain.

"Lovely."

* * *

So many thoughts.

_Too many thoughts_. Annabeth pondered. During times like these when the noises of reality and civilization died down, her mind would also calm. Thoughts would flood her mind. She'd think about her past. Her future. The present. The things she'd been blessed with. The things she'd have to live with for the rest of her life and regret.

Sometimes she'd prefer moments like these to be silent, but most of the time, she didn't. Most of the time, when Annabeth would experience quiet moments like these, she would wish that the world would start up again so that she wouldn't have to deal with all of these _thoughts. _Annabeth knew that she was a girl of thought, facts, thinking, pondering and wisdom, dammit. But sometimes, the amount of thinking that overloaded her mind was too much. Had the gods forgotten that she too was diagnosed with dyslexia _and_ ADHD?

She glanced at Percy, who was slumbering quietly with his head on her stomach. She looked at her fingers, which were unconsciously weaving themselves in and out of Percy's soft, dark hair. Annabeth wondered how he got lucky that through most of the day, he got to sleep off the thoughts and deal with them later. Then again, though, wouldn't that be harder? To deal with all this rubbish after you wake up? Or to not have _enough_ time to deal with them? Or...

Or maybe she was just thinking too hard.

Annabeth inhaled slowly before sighing into the setting sky. The sun was almost completely gone now, plunging the sky into a purplish-pink hue with stains of orange tainting the horizon of the earth.

"You okay?" Percy mumbled sleepily from his position on her stomach. He reached over to his head and laced his fingers with one set of hers.

"Yeah," she murmured, looking at the camp's hero, "I'm okay."

"Did you get enough sleep? You've slept less than forty-five minutes," Annabeth asked. Percy smiled through closed eyes, "I'm okay. Just lying here is definitely better than ... taking care of that hellhound." Annabeth laughed shortly, softly.

"But that is one awesome hellhound we have in that coliseum," Percy croaked softly, opening his eyes and raising an eyebrow at Annabeth, waiting for her to agree. Annabeth, still facing the sky, grinned.

"Yeah, she ... she's a keeper, Mrs. O'Leary," she agreed. Annabeth could feel Percy grin as he resumed relaxing on her stomach.

"I'm sorry I was late, okay?" Percy muttered quietly.

"I know," Annabeth replied. The son of Poseidon turned to look at his girlfriend with an incredulous expression on his face.

"That's it? 'I know' and nothing else?" Percy asked. Annabeth smirked, not making any eye contact with him.

"Well, what do you want me to say?"

"I-I don't know... 'It's okay' or 'Just don't be late next time' or 'Yeah, yeah, Seaweed Brain, go back to sleep' but not 'I know'!"

Annabeth snorted before sitting up, forcing Percy's head to fall onto her lap. He muttered an 'ow' while she did this before setting his head into her lap gently.

"Fine, Seaweed Brain. It's okay, it really is, and you're off the hook today because you have an excuse. Just don't be late next time. Now, go back to sleep." Annabeth leaned down to kiss his forehead lovingly and leaving her lips there for just a few seconds before pulling away. Percy's eyes had closed at the touch of her lips and he didn't bother opening them again. He snuggled closer to Annabeth as she leaned back against her arms, taking in the cool and constant breeze that drifted towards them. For a few minutes, all was silent again but this silent, Annabeth could deal with. This silent consisted of her emptying her mind while she continued to play with Percy's hair, which was increasingly becoming her favorite pastime.

The silence was broken when the earth started rumbling lightly, similarly to the sound of that Tyrannosaurus Rex's footsteps, except these steps were lighter. Annabeth looked at Percy, wondering one more time if he was causing small shockwaves through the earth just for the fun of it again. But Percy looked just as confused as her but after a few seconds, recognized what was happening. After a moment, Mrs. O'Leary had collapsed next to them, a heap of black and tired fur.

"Hey, girl. You planning on going now?" Percy asked softly, lifting his head ever so slightly to catch a glimpse of the hellhound, which honestly wasn't so hard seeing as the dog was huge. Mrs. O'Leary woofed lightly in reply. _Yep._

"Alright," Percy groaned, getting up. He limped over to Mrs. O'Leary slowly, obviously still much exhausted from the day.

Annabeth watched the two interact for a while before getting up as well.

"Alright, alright, girl. You'd better get going before we get in another mess," Annabeth said, reaching up to pet Mrs. O'Leary's nose. Mrs. O'Leary in turn nuzzled her hand before turning to Percy again. The next thing he knew, he was covered in dog slobber, stinking of dog breath and was completely wet with dog drool ... again.

"I'm gonna just forget that you did that," Percy mumbled before turning to the water and immediately walking in until it was up to his chest. Annabeth laughed as her boyfriend dived into the water completely. Mrs. O'Leary, in turn, panted happily before turning to her. She raised her hands in protest, "Oh, no. Please. Not me. I don't have any water powers -" Mrs. O'Leary didn't listen and gave Annabeth an equally wet kiss that seemed a couple of seconds longer than Percy's. Annabeth grimaced even after the kiss and didn't dare open her mouth. She nodded at Mrs. O'Leary, utterly disgusted at the smell of rotten corpses, dog food and just ... something nasty. It smelled painfully similar to death but Annabeth did not want to think about that. Not at all. She risked opening her mouth just a little bit.

"Okay. Your welcome...? Bye..." Annabeth muttered, allowing Mrs. O'Leary one wave goodbye before turning and following Percy into the water. As soon as the water was up to her waist, she dived in further, hoping, wishing, and praying to Poseidon that she would be cleansed when she floated back to the surface. Opening her eyes under water and ignoring the sting of the water, she saw Percy a few feet away from her, sitting at the bottom of the estuary, cleaning himself off. Maybe he noticed her, maybe he didn't. Whichever it was, he was more focused with cleaning himself than he was with Annabeth plunging into the water. He obviously wasn't trying to hold his breath and Annabeth noticed that his chest was moving up and down properly, as if he was breathing. Annabeth frowned jealously underwater before surfacing with a large gasp. Paddling her feet under water to keep from submerging again, Annabeth glanced towards the beach to see anything _but_ Mrs. O'Leary. All the hellhound left in her departure was a cloud of dust that indicated her rush to the Underworld.

Annabeth began rubbing herself with the water, trying to get Essence of Hellhound off of her as much as she could. Eau de O'Leary really just wasn't for her. Soon, she heard a small splash and turned to see that Percy had surfaced a few feet from. He didn't smell of hellhound anymore, Annabeth noticed, as she leaned close to Percy and took a whiff. In fact, he smelled more like Percy than ever. Damn water powers. They'd cleanse him better than she could clean herself manually. Percy's face scrunched up with amused confusion.

"What're you doing?"

"I'm checking if you smell like hellhound. Do I smell like hellhound? She licked me, too. I don't want to smell like hellhound," Annabeth said everything quickly, sniffing herself just to make sure. Not quite catching a whiff of anything unpleasant, Annabeth grew suspicious and looked at Percy for two seconds, pondering whether or not to do what she did next.

She dunked herself for the next minute before resurfacing to catch her breath again. When she wiped the water from her eyes, Percy began laughing.

"Oh, well you seem way too happy to be tired," Annabeth said snidely. Percy shut his mouth and avoided making eye contact with his girlfriend, trying to refrain from bursting out laughing again.

"Annabeth, it's just dog."

"No, it's not just dog, Percy, it's hellhound. Do you think I want to smell like hellhound? Do you even know where Mrs. O'Leary's been over the past few weeks? I think this is the first bath she's had in…" Annabeth paused, "years!" She splashed a little bit of water at him, just to prove how disgusting she felt. When the drops of water magically (and strangely) defied the laws of physics and gravity and suddenly stopped in the air a few inches from Percy's body before falling back into the lake, Annabeth groaned in frustration. Damn those water powers!

"I feel disgusting! And if you knew any better, you'd actually help me clean up properly what with your magical water powers or someth-mmf!" Annabeth's concluding words were muffled and swallowed up as lips collided.

Percy's hands were warm as they hesitantly held her cheeks, intensifying the kiss. A flash of a second later and Annabeth had forgotten everything she had said, was saying and was going to say. A few minutes and a very quick, very desperate groping session later, Annabeth had to separate from Percy because he was the one with the ability to not breathe for a long time, not her. Annabeth noticed that Percy was grasping her waist, holding her up a few inches above him so that she was looking down at him and he had to face up to reach her. She realized that her elbows were hooked over his shoulders and her hands were grasping what of his t-shirt she could reach. Annabeth let herself sink back a little into the water and unclenched her fingers before replacing her hands on his chest and leaning against him for a while. The kiss was definitely unexpected but it was better than sweet. It was sweeter than sweet and a little rougher on the edges (but she didn't mind) but it was exactly what she needed to end the day and really, she felt much better now and Annabeth thought that she might want another kiss like that and ... and ... and how _dare_ he disturb her whilst she rant!

Annabeth suddenly snapped her eyes up at Percy, a bright look in her furious eyes. Percy jerked back, almost releasing his hold on his girlfriend.

"What? What did I do now?" He asked miserably. Annabeth narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him.

"Why'd you do that?" she asked him speedily. Percy almost didn't understand the whole sentence and it took him a moment to comprehend what she'd said in his mind.

"Oh," he sighed in relief. He thought he'd hurt her or pinched her or something. He answered her question simply. Like a Seaweed Brain should.

"You were talking too much."

Annabeth's mouth dropped as she scoffed, "How _dare_ you, Percy Jackson! I, for one, should be taken seriously through any word that comes out of my mouth and I am honestly sure that everyone understands that. You, of all people should know this, being what? My _boyfriend _and all? And I thought you, also being a demigod," she didn't notice Percy roll his eyes by the slightest centimeter, "I would think that you'd understand how important it is for our people, for our camp members to rant. Do you know how important it is for half bloods to rant Percy?" This time, Percy really rolled his eyes, but Annabeth chose to ignore it, "Oh, I didn't think so. Well, maybe next time, you'll try and listen to every single word I say because one day, it just might be import-mmf!" Percy kissed her again.

This one went on for about three times longer than the other one. And this groping session moved steadily underwater. This time, though, Annabeth's mind was a focused and angry weapon, intending to seduce Percy as he induced the same treatment to her. It would have been funny. They were both so into the kiss that they'd forgotten how wet they both were, how much trouble they were still in, and how late it was getting. It was a battle between the kiss (or the multiple kisses) but to hell with that. They didn't really care who saw them anymore. Annabeth was currently in the process of analyzing who could possibly be winning the battle (she was just about to pull apart and cry out in triumph, she was definitely winning judging by the slightly inhumane grunts Percy was making) when one voice called out to them from the beach.

"Percy. Annabeth." It was a slight name switch from what the centaur had previously used to start his earlier lecture but it was enough to piss Percy off.

"Whaaaaat?" he dragged on the exclamation for a little longer than needed, but Percy had to notify Chiron that his little interruptions were more than just annoying. They were a problem. A seriously difficult and, ahem, hard problem for him to deal with. Annabeth glanced at Percy worriedly.

"Seaweed Brain," she whispered quickly. He looked at her, "Shut up!" she told him. They were both flushed and mussed up but the water helped a little bit, making them look wet. Just wet. From their place in the lake, Annabeth could swim forward a few feet and was able to reach the warm sand with her toes. She walked slowly towards Chiron and was rubbing her arm in shame as she reached the centaur, who was standing in all of his horsey-manly glory.

"You two, do you know what time it is?" Chiron asked them, looking quite splendidly intimidating from his height, looking down at the two nineteen-year-olds. Percy was a step behind Annabeth, not daring touch her. He realized, this was _Chiron_ who had just found them having a really, really, really, (_really_) intense make-out session in the lake by the camp. Who knows what could happen?

"It's past six, Chiron," Annabeth said, embarrassedly. She didn't even bother to try looking at the mentor and kept a consistent gaze at her feet, which were still wet while Percy was already dry. Percy couldn't help but reaching out and grabbing Annabeth's arm gently, willing her to be dry. A second later, she was completely dry. Annabeth quickly shot Percy a look that said _Thanks_ and a look _Oh-my-Gods-Seaweed-Brain-don't-touch-me-right-now,-Chiron's-looking!_ at the same time. Percy let go of her arm and stepped back a little more from her. Chiron raised an amused eyebrow at the two and the corners of his mouth tilted upwards in a smirk that would come so many times in the following years. The two didn't seem to notice, both still very set on staring at the sand, which, come to think of it, really was rather interesting. The color wasn't completely yellow and was more of a tainted gold; it even had the sparkles usually found on the yellow brick road or something. How did Percy never notice that even though people swam every day, there no wet footprints left behind? Just footprints. And how come Annabeth never saw that the sand felt lovely and could possibly be made out of the finest material ever since-

"Do you both understand me?" Chiron's voice brought both demigods back to reality. Oh. Yes. They were in trouble. How could they have forgotten?

"Sorry, Chiron, we missed that," Percy said. Chiron gave them a genuine smile. Oh, he was used to repeating things for his students.

"Do you both know which direction Mrs. O'Leary chose to get back to Los Angeles and the Underworld?" Chiron asked calmly. Annabeth looked at Percy, who shrugged.

"I'll take that as a no, then," Chiron paused, maybe to build the suspense a little. It was working.

"She ran straight through the strawberry fields."

Oh. Dear. Gods. Annabeth's eyes widened to the size of the camp's strawberries. The camp's ... ruined strawberries.

"Oh, my gods, Chiron. I'm so - we should have escorted her out the right way! How do we -" Annabeth's eyes darted around in panic, trying to rack her brain for a way to get through this predicament safely. There was always a way to fix things quickly, wasn't there?

"Annabeth, please. This is not your fault. Obviously, it's Mrs. O'Leary's but she can be forgiven. Bless her soul, I do believe that she hasn't seen daylight 'til earlier today when she felt Percy's need for help." Chiron turned to Percy, whose eyebrows rose at that comment.

"Wait, she ... felt me? What do you mean, like ... kind of like an empathy link like the one Grover and I have?" he asked uncertainly, not fully understanding.

"More or less. But more in an animalistic, form of survival version. Animals put their trust and their care into their owners, and those they have formed strong bonds and relationships with. And when their owners desire help, when the person they share the bond with requires assistance, they feel that necessity almost ten minutes before the owner even needs it. That's why she got there in time Percy. Mrs. O'Leary felt your need for assistance about ten minutes before you actually needed it. She ran straight off to you, that girl," Chiron explained. Annabeth smiled at Percy. In a way, the bond that Mrs. O'Leary formed with people was cute. Percy stared straight ahead, grinning lightly at this thought before looking up at Chiron.

"Anyway..." he muttered, blushing at Chiron's sudden scrutiny and Annabeth's gaze, "what's our..." he grimaced at the word, "punishment?"

Chiron's face all but hardened. In fact, it probably brightened up at the mention of more chores for his two favorite students.

"Very simple, you two. You will both be allowed access to the Demeter cabin's gardening tools and will be allowed to stay up as late as you must. The harpies have been instructed not to massacre or eat either of you." Annabeth twitched at Chiron's description of their possible deaths. "But your goal is to clean up Mrs. O'Leary's mess. How both of you will do so, I do not know." Chiron smiled so wide, Percy was convinced that he enjoyed putting them through this.

"Wait, wait, wait," Percy said, "How much of the strawberry fields did Mrs. O'Leary ruin?" Annabeth winced at the possibilities that ran through her head. The question made Chiron chuckle shortly.

"Percy, let's just say that she spent quite some time _playing _in the entire field and eating quite an amount of strawberries before leaving for LA. Get to work you two. Those fields could go on forever." Chiron retreated back to the Big House at his final word. Annabeth stared after him with a disbelieving expression on her face. How long would it take two demigods to clean up the entire field? Only the Demeter cabin knew how long those fields went and some of even their best gardeners got lost in the fields. So how in gods' names would Percy and Annabeth (two demigods who didn't even know how to keep a bushel of flowers alive for three days) clean up an entire strawberry field?

Annabeth looked at Percy, who was also staring after Chiron helplessly with a dejected expression on his face. He muttered something under his breath. Annabeth laughed at his comment.

_Damn dog._

_

* * *

_

Well, yeesh. This is finally done. ^^ This note won't be as long as the last chapter's. Not much to say. Writing this was a pain, but it was incredibly fun. Seeing as this is my first story that's less than five chapters but more than 10k words … constructive criticism is _**wanted**_. Reviews are much appreciated, I'd like to know if I really missed any spelling mistakes or grammar mistakes, so please don't hesitate to point them out. And especially those places where there should be a break-line. The Doc Manager just keeps erasing them. Gods. -_- No problem. I'll fix them. =) Again, I'd like to hear what any of you have to say. But now that this story's out of the way, I guess I'll get working on others, huh? ^^ Thanks to all who has read. I'm eternally grateful. ^^

~Blue


End file.
